Absorbent pant articles like pant diapers, sanitary pants and incontinence pants have a comfortable fit and are capable of being pulled up and down over the hips of the wearer to allow the wearer or caregiver to easily put on and remove the article when it has been soiled. Absorbent pant articles in the form of boxer shorts resemble conventional underwear and are preferred by many users. However disposable absorbent boxer shorts present manufacturing challenges and product design is often compromised by cost and manufacturing aspects. This is in part due to the fact that a high manufacturing speed is necessary to be able to produce low-cost disposable absorbent articles.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,198,688 discloses a process for making boxer shorts, for example in the form of disposable absorbent articles. The garment shell of the boxer shorts is provided from a flat web having leg openings therein. The flat web is contracted in the crotch region to provide hanging legs and side seams are formed to create a boxer shorts type pant.
EP 1793780 discloses boxer shorts and a process for making them. The crotch region and/or the back region comprise an expandable material in the form of a separate piece of material attached to the garment shell web in the front and/or back region thereof.
There is however still a need for improvement of the product design of boxer shorts type absorbent articles especially with respect to the creation of comfort and fit in the leg openings and the hanging legs.